Shard of Glass | Page 6

wall of the cave.

Koichi and I saw them at the same time.
The cave was littered with human bones.
It looked as though these people--whoever they were--had not been
disturbed since they died. In one corner I saw a heap of pathetically
tiny bones nestled near the ribcage of someone I could only assume had
been its mother. My breath began sticking in my throat.
"Where are we?" I asked.
Koichi looked at me. That strange fish-aquarium look had left his eyes.
Now, inexplicably, I only saw anger.
"These are your bones!" he shouted.
Before I could even ask him what he meant, he picked up a jawbone
and tossed it at my head. I caught the grisly token and watched him
rush out of the cave. I should have followed him--I knew how
dangerous it was to be stuck on the rocks after the sun had gone
down--but I was angry and confused. I brooded for nearly an hour, until
the sun had disappeared and the moon had come up to replace it. I
could smell the encroaching storm clouds, but still I didn't move. Who
were these dead people that surrounded me?
And then, when I heard the first distant rumble of thunder, I finally
remembered how I could find out.
I pulled the glass from the book and held it to my eyes.
For a long moment, nothing happened. Then, with an almost physical
lurch, I was in a different world.
A tall man stood in the mouth of the cave, carrying a paper lantern in
one hand and a knife in the other. Three others huddled inside: a
woman clutching a baby to her chest, and a little boy just about Yuki's
age.
The man looked out of the crevice, as though he was searching for

something, and then turned back, shaking his head. "They'll be here by
dawn, they said. We can't . . . we can't let ourselves be taken." Their
voices still sounded distant, but not so garbled as when I had looked
through the glass before.
"Did you see them?" the woman asked. She looked dazed with terror.
"Are you sure they're coming? They could miss us, couldn't they? We
could just hide up here until they're gone, no one will find us--"
"Quiet!" the man said, his voice hard as a slap. The baby began to cry
and the little boy held onto his mother's skirts, quietly snuffling.
The man walked closer to the woman. "We have no choice, Eriko.
What do you think the Americans will do to us when they get here? It's
better for us to end it now, with dignity."
Slowly, she nodded. He bent down to kiss her, and as he did so I saw
him move the knife just above her heart. She leaned forward.
So did I.
It felt as though I were moving through a mountain of sand, but
desperation and terror pushed me through. "No," I shouted, in both
Japanese and English. "Don't do this!"
And somehow, the woman heard me.
As the blood blossomed around the hilt of the blade and ran down the
front of her kimono, she turned her head and met my eyes.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. Her voice was sad, but so calm
it was incongruent with the blood and her screaming children. "You
don't belong here. Why wake this up?" She slid off the end of the blade
and collapsed on the floor. The high-pitched screams of her children
seemed to have receded--I could only hear the woman. Her husband
sliced the neck of the boy first, and then the infant.
"Why not let it fade?" she said as she cradled her dying infant on the

floor. "Why won't you let it fade?"
"I'm sorry," I whispered. I couldn't feel my throat, but my voice was
hoarse. Was I crying?
I had gone so far that time, it took a while to pull back out. Just before I
lowered the glass, I had the strange impression that I glimpsed my
father. He seemed sad and worn, but in some strange way, it made him
look even more handsome. I realized that I had nearly forgotten his
face.
After I put away the shard, I crawled out of the cave and tried to shelter
myself from the pelting rain under a small overhang nearby. I fell
asleep clutching the book to my chest, crying for the woman in the cave
and wishing I could see my father again.

Part 2
Sato-san and the others found me the next morning, after the rains had
stopped. I tried to climb down, but my legs wouldn't stop shaking and I
felt light-headed. I rode home on Sato-san's back. My father used to
carry me around like that, I